diRty dilemma
 

i've had Dirty since 1999 but i just can't get into it! i don't know why. i know the songs are good and the production is spectacular, though not as sonic-sounding. i've gotten way into ALL other SY albums, but i just can't do it with this one. anybody have a similar problem or am i the only one?

I have the same exact problem! To me dirty sounds like SY trying to win over the MTV crowd.

Ah that sucks. I love listening to Dirty even though I don't feel it's Sonic Youth's best album. I would suggest listening to On The Strip and JC because those are my favorite songs. On The Strip has some nice noise in the middle and JC near the end. I love Kim's voice on these songs too. Listening to Dirty is amazing for me and I hope you can get into it one day.

Damn, Dirty changed my life.

well Dirty is a classic rock album, much like Back in Black by ACDC. Its got lots of great songs on it, but if youre a fan i can imagine it being hard to like

Do you think the MTV crowd in 1992 was as bad as it is today?
I'd imagine not.

But anyway, I think Dirty's an important album that helps identify Sonic Youth as a band. I guess that pretty much goes with all their albums actually, but I wouldn't think of Sonic Youth as I do now if there was no Dirty. Great, great album.

Really? I don't quite get that.

I understand yr predicament. It's one of their harder records o get into. It certainly is a good enough album, it's just a little less identifiable. If you keep listenig, it will probably grow on you. Try listenignto it on a long road trip. Or just drive around for a few hours and keep yr cd player on repeat. Tha's how I get into most of my records.

I don't get why a lot of people say Dirty is SY's most accessible album. It was the hardest one for mr to get into. It was so heavy, but now I love it.

We're only blood on blood on life
You paint me pictures every night
Come wish beside me
Don't you know you know what's right

You don't like even Wish Fulfillment nor Theresa's Sound-World nor Drunken Butterfly nor Sugar Kane? Booooh, that's sad :(

dirty is a great album i'm always able to get into it i have never thrashed it though like i did with bad moon, evol, ddn and murray street. but come on, I see your wishes on the wall and that's alright with me

I like Dirty much more than EJSTNS and Washing Machine.

I've always felt that Dirty fills almost exactly the same part of the Sonic Youth canon as is filled in The Fall's case by The Infotainment Scan. Both are among the band's most accessible work, both are often less popular with long-term fans, but both contain a lot of absolute top-quality and memorable songs, and should be placed in the the respective band's top three LP's. It's no bad thing that amongst the more challenging works comes something much more instant and catchy - the popularity of these songs live is testament to that, and I for one consider that (in both cases) it's the variety of styles over time that is a vital part of the bands' enduring legacy and ability to keep me transfixed.

The 'mainstream' sound is a fallacy to some extent, in my opinion - it's only mainstream by comparison with some of their other works. I guarantee that my friends are just as bewildered by Youth Against Fascism or Drunken Butterfly as they are by other SY stuff.

I agree, my first SY listen was Dirty and I didn't find it mainstream at all (I thought that it sounded like nothing else I ever heard and that it was certainly not "pop music").

I dont enjoy the original Dirty album too much. It has some excellent tracks, and one of the most beautiful few mintues of music SY have ever created, in JC - which will always be one of my favourite Youth tracks. But besides that it seemed like a pretty dull period, I'm not a fan of the videos either.

But then came Dirty deluxe... and I really dig cd two, it's great listening to the raw tracks starting to form and without the overblown vig production.

yeah, disc 2 is amazing